Prefabricated bathroom unit



Jan. 2, 1962 P. TREAND 3,015,110

PREFABRICATED BATHROOM UNIT Filed Jan. 19, 1959 JNIQENIOR PIERRE TREA/YD BY m ATTORNEYS 3,015,110 PREFABRICATED BATHROOM UNIT Pierre Trand, 54 Route de Florissant, Geneva, Switzerland Filed Ian. 19, 1959, Ser. No. 787,426

Claims priority, application Switzerland Jan. 24, 1958 2 Claims. (Cl. 4-2) This invention relates to prefabricated bathroom units and the like sanitary installations.

It is an object of my invention to provide for a prefabricated single-block sanitary installation and particularly a bathroom unit for use inthe building of houses which is safe against leakage, and easy to install while the house is being built, but can be installed with the same ease in bathrooms and the like of existing houses, so as to fit snugly into the available bathroom space.

It is already known in the art, for instance from Patents 1,940,588 and 2,087,121, that various prefabricated pieces of a bathroom unit can be assembled to form a a bathroom cubicle. It has also been proposed to build the four vertical walls of a bathroom from a single unitary piece of material, preferably a light metal such as aluminum, to fold the walls and to weld them at a seam and, in particular, to a metal or the like bottom with a more or less. satisfactory sealing against water leakage.

However, all known structures suffer from a number of drawbacks among which there is the difficulty that all require working operations such as welding seams of the cubicle to be formed, at the final location in the house, which working operations are frequently the source of faulty spots in the sealing and fit of the cubicle. As a result, there is hardly any installation possible .without the development of some leakage which will quickly deteriorate and contribute to the corrosion and erosion of one or the other part of the cubicle.

- Another important drawback of these known structures is the fact that they are difiicult to install; meannot be installed at all in existing bathroom space available in finished houses.

These drawbacks are avoided and the above-stated object attained by the prefabricated bathroom unit according to my invention which will be described hereinafter in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 shows in perspective view a preferred embodiment of the bathroom unit according to the invention, and

FIGURE 2 shows a cross sectional view through a bathroom unit according to the invention installed in a bathroom space provided in a previously finished house.

A prefabricated bathroom unit according to the invention consists of a single block of molded plastic material, which block is produced by any of the known molding methods such as injection or projection molding, and comprises the four walls 2, 3, 4, 5 up to, for instance, half the total height of the bathroom, integral with the bottom 1 of the cubicle, which fact is an important novel feature of this unit, and with at least one bath tub 8, at least one wash basin 9, a toilet 10, and other sanitary installations as desired. A stepped up recess 11 in the bottom is preferably provided for locating therein or therebelow the necessary piping connections.

The injection or projection-molded lower bathroom half unit also comprises in one of its side walls, for instance wall 5 in the drawing, a cut-out recess 7 as entrance opening, and the necessary door-step 12 which is preferably flush with the door-step 13 of an outer bathroom wall, for instance of concrete, in an already finished house.

In FIGURE 2 there is shown how the integral bottomhalf high wall cubicle according to the invention fits snugly into the existing walls 14, 15, 16 and on to the "ice concrete floor 18 of such an already finished conventional bathroom.

At the lowest point of the bottom 1 there may be provided a drain 19. Piping may be introduced at such height that leakage is practically impossible. For instance, the hot and cold water taps for the bath tub 8 may be provided as indicated at 20 in FIGURE 2.

Where the upper rim of the plastic semi-cubicle according to the invention merges into the previously ex-' isting wall of the bathroom space, a sealing 21 of putty or other suitable material may be applied. Bottom 1 may, of course, be covered with a mat 24, a wood lattice or other desired conventional device to be preferably at the same level as the outside floor 23 and avoid standing on the wet bottom 1 itself.

While the prefabricated bathroom semi-unit according to the invention is primarily destined for installation in new houses under construction, it is an important feature of the bathroom semi-cubicle according to the invention that the same is so dimensioned that it may be tilted to pass easily through existing bathroom or other door openings 22 of standard dimensions so that there is no difficulty in installing the plastic semi-cubicle into an existing bathroom or other space in a finished apartment, which space is to be converted into a bathroom. The fact that theentire plastic product weighs in the order of 60 kilograms, if the cubicle is of standard dimensions, makes transportation and installation by a single person possible. -.-The-fioor level 23 of the space outside the bathroom should be flush with the door sill 13 of the'Texisting bath room 'wall-and the cubicle doorstep 12 will then be flush with the aforesaid floor level 23.

The new article of manufacture constituted by the pre-' fabricated bathroom semi-cubicle according to the invention is integrally produced from such materials as stratified polyesters which are commercially available, for instanceasz Norsodyne,manufactured by Houilleres du Bassin du Nord et du Pas deCalais, Bruay, France,

Sterton, manufactured by Convert S.A.', oyonnax,

France,

Steelglass, manufactured'by Arte S.A.R.L., Milan, Italy,

Rhodester, manufactured by Rhone-Poulenc, 'Paris,

France.

Similar materials manufactured by St. Gobain SLA., Paris,- France, and Montecatini,,Milan, Italy.

Suitable plastic mixtures are, for instance, described in Collana materie plastiche No. 10, Gabraster resine poliestere, published by Montecatini, Soc. Gen. per lIndustria Mineraria e Chimica, Milan, Italy, pages 6 to 14.

Fibrociment, a cement of the Eternit type produced by Eternit A.G-., Nieder-Urnen, Switzerland, is equally suitable.

The manufacture of the new article can best be effected by means of one of the known processes described, for instance, in Collana materie plastiche supra.

The process described therein and illustrated in FIG- URES 16 and 17 of the publication by Montecatini can equally be used for producing the new article according to the invention from one of the other materials listed above.

Of course, the article could be pressure-shaped or cast from metal, although the above-mentioned plastic materials appear to be preferable in view of the absence of any problems of corrosion.

It is the principal advantage of the new article of manufacture that in the areas where there is any likelihood that water may accumulate for any length of time, there are no joints whatsoever that may deteriorate under the influence of water and air.

Furthermore, by making the semi-cubicle of sufiicient 3 height to extend beyond the highest possible wall areas above the wash basin 9 where water could be splashed, any spilling of water outside the cubicle is avoided.

In order to complete the bathroom after the semicubicle according to the invention has been installed, it is only necessary to erect the upper halves of the four side walls and the ceiling, but without any necessity of providing for water-tight sealing of the joints".

The use of plastic material for forming the unity bathroom semi-cubicle offers several distinct advantages over the materials hitherto used in the art, such as porcelain or light metal, or enamel. The surfaces of the plastic bath tub, wash basin, toilet floor etc., are not liable to develop the cracks and uneven areas which tend to make surfaces of other materials so ungainly looking after relatively short use. The absorption of water for instance by tiles on the floor is much greater than that of plastic material. The cold feel of the floor common to all tiled floors is thus avoided.

The inner surfaces of the manufactured article according to the invention may be ornamented or show tile de signs and the like by well known techniques such as the Hanusch process. For instance colored glass wool is in troduced into the molded mass.

An example of a semi-cubicle which can be easily introduced by tilting into a given bathroom space shall now be given without, however, being in any waylimitative of the invention. If a given bathroom space is available which has. an inner width of 1.67 meters and an inner length of 1.58 meters, a. height of, for instance, 2 meters which is, ofcourse not critical, and a door width of 0.68 meter centrally placed in the 1.67 meters wide wall, then a semi-cubicle which has an outer width of 1.65 meters, a length of 1.55 meters, a height of 1 meter, and a door cut-out of 0.68- meter width centrally placed in the 1.65 meters wide wall, could be easily tilted to pass throughthe door of the bathroom space, and be located in thespace, making use of the aforesaid door cut-out.

Further advantages offered by the bathroom semicubicle according to the invention shall now be briefly listed:

(1) The pipe outlets provided in the semi-cubicle can be disposed. and oriented as desired and the semi-cubicle thus be fitted into any lay-out of a house or apartment.

(2) The semi-cubicle can be. easily carried and installed by one or two persons, depending on its size, permitting to reduce the number of persons usually employed inthe installation of a bathroom by half.

(3) Time is saved by not having to wait for the semicubicle: walls. to dry, in installing the piping for faucets and drainage, and in applying the moisture insulating material: etc.

4. (4) Installation time is therebyreduced to a 'few hours. (5). The reduction of the total, costs for providing a house or apartment with a bathroom is about 50%.

(6) Control openings or -windows can be provided wherever that is required.

(7) Maintenance is extremelysimple, and finally (8) Flooding is practically impossible.

The reduction in weight of the entire unit makes it especially adapted for use in It will be understood that this invention is susceptible to modification in order to adapt'it to'ditferent usages and conditions, and, accordingly, it is desired to comprehend such modifications withinthis invention as may fall within the scope of the appended claims.

.What is claimed is:

l. A bathroom semi-cubicle comprising a single molded plastic piece containing a bottom having an upperlevel and a lower level; four side walls; a rectangular entrance cut-out in oneside wall thereof; a recessed bathtub in said upper level of said bottomand disposed along the wall opposite said wall having the rectangular entrance cut-out; a recessed wash basin in said bottom, said wash basin being disposed along one of the two walls perpendicular to said wall having the rectangula entrance cut-out, said wash basin being attached directly to said bathtub; a. recessed toilet in said bottom, said toilet being disposed along the other-perpendicular wall; a doorstep disposed at the bottom of'said rectangular entrance cut-out, said doorstep projectingabove said lower level at the bottom. of said semi-cubicle, whereby: the doorstep functions as a dam to prevent water spillage from entering other rooms.

2. Thesemi-cubicle of claim 1, further comprising a drain at the lowest portion of said lower level of said bottom.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,040,238 Petter Oct. 1, 1912 1,940,588 Gugler Dec. 19, 1933 2,058,188 Stanton Oct-'20, 193'6 2,l73,l8-5' Stanton Sept. 19, I939 2,220,482 Fuller Nov. '5, 1940 2,486,371. Mankkl Oct. 25, 1949 2,533,534 Tellefsen Dec. 12, 1950 2,695,256 De Olloqui et al. Nov. 23, 1954 OTHER REFERENCES Popular Mechanics, August 1956, pages 88 and 89.. (Copy in Patent Ofiice Library.) 

